Instagram head Adam Mosseri says the company is looking to improve the app’s search functionality, admitting this is an area where Instagram could do more to compete. The remarks, made on a recent episode of the “Build Your Tribe” podcast, come at a time when younger, Gen Z users often turn to social apps like TikTok for answers, instead of using traditional search engines.
Instagram is in that mix, too, of course, but it knows its position could be stronger.
“We’re … starting to invest more in search on Instagram because there’s so much amazing content,” he said. “And quite frankly, what we call content search — as opposed to searching for an account, actually searching for some type of content — it’s not very good on Instagram.”
The exec noted that part of the problem was that the team working on Instagram search has been small, but Meta recently “strengthened” that team with the goal of rolling out more improvements on this front over the months and years ahead.
“It’s a long road, but I do think that could also be a really good one for people who are looking for things. You can imagine, whatever you use Instagram for, it’d be great to be able to find ‘that’ more easily,” Mosseri said. “But also for creators … it should allow content to resurface so that you don’t get all the value in those first 24 or 48 hours.”
The way that Gen Z and younger users search for content is something that’s been in flux for some time.
Google identified how the problem was affecting its own future as a search provider when, back in 2022, a Google exec suggested that social apps like TikTok and Instagram were eating into its core business, including Search and Maps.
Last fall, TikTok began to more directly compete with Google’s ad business by allowing its advertisers to target its search results page.
Various market research studies have also confirmed this shift in how younger people use the internet and web search, to different degrees. In one U.S. study, for example, Instagram topped Google Search and other rivals as Gen Z’s preferred search engine.
But this is still a close race and not one that Instagram has necessarily won.
A Bernstein Research study cited by Fortune in April 2024 found that 45% of Gen Z are more likely to use social media for searches, and a 2024 HerCampus study cited in eMarketer found that 51% of Gen Z favor TikTok over Google Search, primarily for its short-form video format.
Mosseri’s comments indicate that Meta knows the next frontier where Instagram needs to compete is as a search engine, not just a social network for keeping up with friends.
Only a “very small percentage” of average users (non-creators) post to Instagram’s Feed on a given day, he also said, adding that this part of Instagram is becoming “much more of a public domain.” Stories and DMs (direct messages), meanwhile, are where users interact with their friends.
Another area where Instagram aims to compete with TikTok on search is the recommended searches that appear at the top of the comments section.
On TikTok, the suggested search is extracted from what people are talking about in the comments. That’s something Instagram wants to improve, too.
“Sometimes, where the real interesting context is not … in the video that someone uploaded, but in the context around it — which is almost always in the comments. And so what we’re trying to do is surface that more easily, and then you can go and find out more,” he said.
He noted that the version of Instagram’s app that looks more toward the comments to enhance search suggestions is coming out “soon.”
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